Very seasonal for October, right? You may or may not know that I listen to audio when I work; mostly audiobooks but also podcasts. I recently listened to a fantasy book, Strange Practice by Vivian Shaw, and loved it. The main character is Greta and she is described as very pale with white blond hair. The descriptions in books can get caught up in the spiderweb that is my brain and appear in whatever I am working on.

She is wearing a dark grey cashmere sweater with antique knitted lace at the collar and a fancy antique button. She has a grey lacy scarf knotted around her neck.

Another very hard to photograph girl- I’m going to have to learn more about under and overexposure on my camera. She has a dark purple body and a black cashmere pinafore. The pinafore has an embroidered sash. The camera wants to blend it all together. I did my best to show the colors and detail.

The sweater had moth holes and I decided to use them instead of avoid them in the pinafore.

Embroidery on a ribbon sash-

She has a skirt made from my favorite angora/wool blend. It is so soft and yet has body that makes it hold it’s shape. Cashmere can be floppy and stretchy. Yes, and talking of stretchy cashmere, yesterday I thought I was all finished here but… after I went to bed last night, I was thinking about her pinafore and decided it need to be lined. It was too “relaxed”- Â not staying in shape the way I’d like. Today, I added a wool felt lining to the bodice and sewed it on with buttonhole stitch all the way around the edge. It is one of those things that doesn’t really show and only I care. But it felt so satisfying when it was finished and everything seemed to fit so much better.

and her shoes-

I will be putting the fish, the Moonbeam girls and this one on Etsy, probably tomorrow afternoon. I have put away any more girls for now- they are just giving me too much trouble! I am working on lady pillows and babies- sewing them up and then I will do the decorative work. I am hoping that I’ll be doing some traveling in the next few months and it would be nice to have some dolls all ready to take along and do the handwork on.

Yesterday was the April crafty meet-up. There were 9 of us there- the biggest group yet! It was loads of fun. Look what Sharon made for Crystal! Â Next meet-up- May 12.

I hope you aren’t getting tired of these little girls because I am still having fun with them. Here is another little witch… or maybe a Jane Eyre sort of girl.

She has a black undersuit, so her arms are black. Her dress is purple cashmere with a silk ribbon closure. It is hard to get the photos right when the colors are so dark.

I am excited about her hair-

I used the felt beads (I dyed them all black) again. 5 small ones for bangs, 5 big ones in the back.

Here is her scarf, off. I was very nervous about doing the hand-stitched button holes when I was dressing Marigold. I seem to have gotten over it and am having fun with them now!

The dress is made from the arms of a cashmere sweater, cut at about elbow length- 2 arms, cut open, pinned together, sewed up the sides to where the cuff starts.Â Then sewing in at the top of the cuffs, about 1 inch on each side for shoulder seams. The cuffs are the bodice. Close zigzag at bottom edge for the ruffle. Add ribbon to gather.